1. Field
One or more exemplary embodiments relate to a battery pack, and more particularly, to a battery pack including a protection circuit capable of performing a rapid switching operation.
2. Description of the Related Art
Secondary cells are cells that convert chemical energy into electrical energy, and that discharge the electrical energy, and that also convert electrical energy supplied thereto into chemical energy. That is, secondary cells may be repeatedly charged and discharged. As secondary cells are widely used in portable electronic devices, for example, mobile phones, digital cameras, laptop computers, etc., batteries for supplying power to portable electronic devices have been actively developed.
Such batteries are typically of a battery pack type including protection circuits for controlling the charging and discharging of the batteries. Errors may occur in the batteries while they are being charged or discharged. The protection circuits are provided to protect the batteries when such errors occur, and to stably control the charging and discharging of the batteries. The protection circuits may include switches, for example, transistors or relays, to control the charging and discharging of the batteries. When stability of the switches is improved to strongly protect against external noise, a switching time of the switches increases. Due to this longer switching time, the batteries may not be protected when an error suddenly occurs.